


Conversion

by fieryhuntress



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Storm, F/F, Feelings Realization, Jewish Character, Kate wants to convert, Trans Female Character, Trans!Max
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 08:22:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12077271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieryhuntress/pseuds/fieryhuntress
Summary: Kate has wanted to convert to Judaism since she got her scholarship to Blackwell Academy, and even then, it takes her a month to finally convince herself to get on the bus to the local synagogue, Beth Yisrael. While attending Shabbat service there, she catches sight of a fellow Blackwell classmate.





	Conversion

**Author's Note:**

> priestessamy can be slightly blamed for the existence of this fic. Only slightly, but still.

A month after classes had started, Kate finally managed to convince herself to get on the bus to go to Beth Yisrael for Saturday services, the only synagogue within bus route of Blackwell Academy. There was a bigger shul near Arcadia Bay, but Beth Yisrael was the only one within city limits, and Kate found it hard enough to get on that bus to go to the synagogue that she had fairly dreamed about since she had seen it while riding the bus when classes started, to have to take another bus would be too much for her right now.

She didn’t know what to expect, as she had gone to fundamentalist Christian services for most of her life until she had gotten into Blackwell, and decided that she wanted to convert. She knew she had to go to at least one Service, to prove to herself if not the rabbi, that she was really committed to conversion. But, with schoolwork and getting used to the campus, along with an unhealthy dose of anxiety about going and about her family finding out, it had taken her a month to finally get on the bus and go. She had read up on Jewish religious services, and even watched a couple online, so she had a general idea, but she was still unsure of herself. But, she wanted this bad enough to do it, so she wouldn’t wimp out now that she was almost there.

The bus stopped on the corner near the shul, and Kate thanked the bus driver and got off, and walked towards the people going inside. As she walked, she heard mothers yelling at kids, fathers telling their wives that ‘the kids would be okay, that they remembered when they were that age, and hadn’t we been just like that?’ She heard an old couple, having heard the parents talking, whispered right ahead of Kate about their own children, and Kate smiled. This was a place of family, of home and hearth and all of that. She felt more at peace knowing that the synagogue seemed to be one of generations, like her church had been at home before she split from it.

She worried that she would be on the only person her age there, and thereby obvious, but she saw a few other high schoolers as she got inside, and followed along with what the women were doing. As she walked through the hall into the sanctuary, she marveled at all of the stained glass. It didn’t depict people wailing or being burned in hellfire, but instead she saw one huge piece above the altar…bema which seemed to show a selection of animals. There was a rabbit, and a deer, and a wolf, and a hawk, and a butterfly, along with a lion and a lamb, with trees and a beautiful rainbow-colored sky. She found a seat near the middle of the section facing the bema, and sat down, pulling out the siddur and put it on her lap, the familiar weight comforting to her in this semi-scary place.

She watched other people in the congregation, talking to each other, and she looked around. When she looked to the left section, she thought she saw a familiar face and hair, but when she checked again, there was someone sitting next to them, and she couldn’t get a glimpse of them again. She told herself that she likely imagined it, trying to find something familiar in this unknown place. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait much longer for the service to begin, as the cantor, a lovely woman with black hair, stood up from where she had been sitting with the rabbi, and began to first prayer of the morning, which was picked up by the rest of the congregation, and the service began.

Kate followed along as best she could, trying to say the prayers and the words correctly, but mostly, she just said the Amens. That was close enough that she could do it, and when the torah portion was read for the week, she thought it was like music. Everything the cantor sang was music, pure poetic music, and she drifted a bit while she sang. Kate was used to the choral music of the church, but she found that she liked the Jewish hymns a bit better for their musicality, and for the tales they told.

The rabbi’s sermon was about what had been happening recently, about the hatred that the world had been spewing about the LGBTQ+ community, and he talked about how his own son, who gave a smile at his name being said she saw, had had to deal with that kind of hatred when he had been in high school a couple years ago, for being a gay Jew, and how outraged the rabbi had been. He talked about how his family had come here to escape the pogroms, and how his mother said that what was going on sounded like when she had been a little girl in Poland, and how worried she got every day. He said something which grabbed at Kate, something so different than anything she had heard at home, that she felt it stitch itself on her heart.

He said, “My friends, we are Jews. We have a history of oppression five millennia long, and we live in a day and age where we thought it would have ended, but it has not. And, what do we do about it? Do we complain about it, yes,” which got a couple laughs, “Do we sit and moan and do nothing for anyone else? No. We help those who need it, we raise money for the homeless, give money to charities for the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups, and last year, we donated money to help a congregant get his top surgery done by the best doctor he could find. We are Jews, and we do what we can to help, because we know what it is like to be hated and want no one else to ever deal with that.”

The congregation applauded, and he smiled and beamed, and soon they went back to reading from the siddur, and Kate knew that she had found the place that was right for her. She tried to follow along again, and even tried to say the prayers at the end along with everyone; the ones over the bread, over fruits, over the wine/grape juice, and over the sweets.

As everyone got up to go avail themselves of the food provided by the shul, she saw the rabbi leave the temple and walk out into the hall, where he greeted the people walking out, usually by name and talked to them for a moment or two. And, she saw the familiar face again, and she was sure that it was Max this time.

Somehow, she ended up a person or two behind her, and so heard her and Rabbi Cohen talk.

“Maxine, it is so good to see you again. What’s it been? Five years?” he asked in a voice which sounded a bit needling, but only in the way of someone who had watched her grow up.

Max laughed, “Yes, Mr. Cohen, five years sounds about right. I think it was right after my Bar Mitzvah.” That sounded a bit odd to Kate, as she could have sworn that Bar Mitzvahs were for boys, not girls.

“And what a beautiful young lady you grew up to be,” he added, and shook her hand as she moved on.

The woman in front of Kate smiled at Max as she walked on, and then at the rabbi as he asked after how she was doing at college in Portland.

Then, it was Kate’s turn. She walked up a bit shyly and said, “Hello.”

He looked at her with a fatherly look and smiled, “I don’t believe I have ever had the pleasure of meeting you before. May I ask who you are?”

She smiled, “Kate. I’m not Jewish…yet. I want to convert, so decided to come today. I hope that is okay?”

A laugh, “Of course, and I assume you are local, so perhaps we can set up a meeting to talk more about this? Did you enjoy the service?”

She smiled at him, “I will call your office, and very much. It was so beautiful!”

He smiled, “See you soon, Kate,” and she walked on into the room with the food.

When she walked in, she found Max with a cup of juice and a small cold cut sandwich. Max looked nice in a cute dark skirt and grey polo, and her ever-present camera bag. So, she walked over and said, “Hi, Max.”

Max turned around, a bit surprised to see Kate there, and said, “Hi. I didn’t expect to see you here. Aren’t you Christian?”

She looked down, “Well, yes. But, I am thinking of converting, and so I came today, to see what a Saturday service was like.”

“Makes sense. So, what did you think?”

“I liked it. It was very pretty. But, I didn’t know you were Jewish.”

A laugh, “Yeah. Most people don’t catch how Jewish Caulfield is as a last name. My mom’s was Cohen.”

A laugh, “Fair enough. I didn’t know you grew up in Arcadia Bay.”

“Yeah, until five years ago when we moved to Seattle.”

“Thanks for telling me,” as she looked at her watch, “I should probably get going soon, to get back to Blackwell.”

“Did you take the bus here?”

“Yeah, how did you get here?”

Another laugh, “Same, but I guess I got an earlier bus. Want to go back together?”

Kate nodded, and the two of them walked out of the synagogue after Max threw out her trash. Then, they were off to the bus stop, where luckily, a bus pulled up as they arrived. Kate looked at Max a bit more than usual, and noticed how the light from the window played with shadows on her face, accentuating how pretty Max was.

They rode the bus back to Blackwell, talking a little bit, and as they walked back to the dorm, they agreed to meet up next Saturday and ride over to Beth Yisrael together. They parted happily, smiling as they went to their separate rooms.

As Kate closed the door, she sighed and walked over to Alice, who was snuffling up at her. Kate took her out of her cage, and sitting down on the bed, stroking her fur, said, “Alice, I think I have a crush on Max.” Alice, predictably, nosed her hand and she smiled and stroked her fur some more.

**Author's Note:**

> If people want to see more, please let me know.


End file.
